Alternate Universes Colapse
by Rajani-the-Freak
Summary: A new timeline is created and it won't bend down to the normal rules of the paradox space. A timeline where the game never happens and characters that shouldn't exist anymore still do. Prepare for shenanigans... and slavery... that too. XC
1. Prologue – β Timeline

**A better summary than the one on display?:** So basically this will be a mix between an AU of Homestuck (in a way) where the extra John on this scene (take the '*' out to see page and pester log: https*:*/*/*www*.*homestuck*.*com*/*story*/*7171 ) accidentally creates a new universe by zapping from place to place and time to time without control of his powers (see this Prologue for more). In this universe the game never gets used and thought the meteors still fall, there are duplicates of the Alpha kids and the Troll race shares the univers because of shenanigans. Also, underneath a mountain, monsters exist and only by rescuing earth like Thos John did will they get a chance to come to the surface (decided to use an AU for undertale too, this time Get-rammed's AU of Beastale) This will only show up like halfway through the fic so for now prepare to enjoy only troll and human shenanigans. Also, characters from a fan comic called Madstuck will show up. (take '*' to see first page: https*:*/*/*mspfa*.*com*/*?*s*=*12196&p*=*1 )

 **Pairings:** OCxSans for sure. As for the others... we'll see.

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 **ACT 1** : Trolltale

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 **Prologue** – β Timeline

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Once there was one main timeline named α timeline and every other timeline that deviated from that one was a doomed timeline. Doomed, because it was destined to fall into oblivion. No timeline was supposed to exist aside from the α. And then a glitch happened.

An anomaly with enough power to alter the α timeline at will, breaking fate to suit itself. That Anomaly could alter its own fate and meet itself making other versions of itself irrelevant. One of those irrelevant versions, still unable to control its own power, jumped across time, altering the timeline in such a way that it caused a break.

Usually the α timeline was associated with a game. Its name varies across people. In some it was called Sburb, in others Sgrub, but it was always linked to the α timeline. It was the sole reason the timelines even existed. What distinguished the α timeline from the doomed ones was the rate of survivals. The α timeline was always the one with more survivals. Those were the two main attributes to the α timeline.

But the Anomaly changed that. It brought someone to a time where they weren't supposed to exist. It teleported planets, whole solar systems even, across the void to places where before there was nothing. All the changes it caused saved several lives, many more than any α timeline ever had before… but it disconnected that timeline from the game completely and that caused a paradox.

It saved more lives than any other timeline so it should become the new α timeline. It wasn't associated with the game so it couldn't become an α timeline. If the lives saved had been an extra few lives it would have been a no brainer for whatever entity that could choose to elect the α timeline but when the lives saved amounted to two whole planets, an entire universe, even, the two conditions were definitely at war.

It eventually settled by creating a whole other timeline apart from the α, one that wasn't doomed. It could even be called another universe altogether. That was when the β timeline was created. Because of all the irregularities due to the glitch the Time factor on that timeline was twisted, another anomaly created. And even another one stronger than the second.

And the first anomaly, finally able to control their power somewhat, finally stopped altering reality and the new timeline finally settled down, always and forever apart from the other one.

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 **END NOTES:**

I'll be posting a few more chapters and then leave it like this for opinions, ok? Pls review.


	2. Chapter 0,5 – LANDING

**Author's Notes:** The Half Chapters are dedicated to the Trolls POVs, generaly happening before the main storie's events and may not occur in a linear fashion, whereas the Regular Chapters are dedicated to the main story and are usually displayed in a linear fashion.

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 **Chapter 0.5** – LANDING

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He paced back and forth on the small chamber assigned to him. He supposed it could have been worse. He could have been one of the fuckers that never made it out of that planet alive. Trust the Empress to have a backup plan in case their home world was wrecked. This was the reason why he admired her so. There was also the fact that she managed to rule over her kind across several planets with an iron fist, and the fact that she did manage to organize her armies to actually conquer that many planets… That lady was definitely smart and cunning.

Karkat couldn't help but feel a slight pang of sadness at the destruction of his home for six whole sweeps. His lusus was also gone. The lusi were supposed to leave after all the underage troll kids but not even all of the trolls had made it out of the planet, let alone the lusi. As far as he knew the only lusus to leave the planet was the Imperial one, who had made it out before any of the kids. The ship in charge of the Mother Grub, however… the loading had been delayed and he had watched Alternia explode through the small window in his chamber just as the Mother Grub ship was taking off.

This was a serious problem. Sure, the Imperial Lusus could kill wholes casts of trolls with her voice but the Mother Grub was single handedly in charge of all troll reproduction. How would they reproduce now? In just a few, or several depending on your blood cast life expectancy, sweeps the low bloods would be entirely extinct. He personally knew of a certain highblood who would be plenty of happy about that, but it wasn't anything to be happy about.

Most of troll population were lowbloods and not only did they have the biggest percentage of special power users, but they also played a big part in maintaining the colonies. Yes, the highbloods served as guards and army leaders but mainly they ruled over the lowbloods and oversaw their work. Most of the grunt work was placed on the lower casts, and with them gone, the highbloods would need to overwork to compensate.

As worried as he was he knew he probably wouldn't live to see that outcome. The Empress would probably find a way to compensate on the lack of a Mother Grub anyway, which would make the whole thing a moot point.

What he still didn't quite understand, however, was how had the Empress managed to predict that the meteors would be falling. He may not be well versed in space but he sure as hell knew people who were, or at least knew where to find that information. There were no asteroids hovering nearby. They had just appeared out of nowhere. He had **_seen_** the last one appear out of nowhere.

He had no way to know that those meteors where the last remains of a split in timelines that was now sorely irrelevant. He had no way to know that in the other timeline he would have been well versed in the timelines, mainly because he would have been accountable for most of the doomed ones.

All he knew was that his home planet was destroyed by teleporting meteors and that, somehow, the Empress knew it in advance and that had made her more respectable in his eyes.

Karkat spent a lot of perigees in that ship. It was one of many ships and quickly he realized that his friends weren't present on that ship and that there was no internet connection there so he couldn't use that to try to reach them. They probably didn't have internet connection on their ships either. He wondered if they had made it out alive. He tried not to interact much with the other trolls. It was fine interacting with his friends via internet but interacting with trolls face to face always made him wary.

Of course he didn't manage to become completely friendless. He met an older troll girl who seemed as secretive about her blood color as him but he doubted her reasons were the same. She constantly wore sunglasses but it was obvious she wasn't used to them. Her blood color must have manifested in her iris already. Karkat supposed that eventually he would need to do the same.

She never asked about his blood color and, as curious as he was, he didn't ask her for hers either. Her name was Rajani Avfyra and when she texted him on his telecommunications device (which now only worked within the parameters of the ship) she had the tendency of using a 12 colored rainbow text and only used capital letters on the beginning of a sentence and no other place.

Unlike him she wasn't completely friendless in that ship. An Olive blood accompanied her around. He also wore shades but it seemed that he actually wore them all the time, not just in social situations. It was mentioned at some point how sensitive his eyes were to the surrounding environment. The shades were so dark that he might as well be using two opaque pieces of plastic for lenses. At least he used the same olive green color as his blood, though he had and odd tendency to use a 'θ' instead of an 'o' or an '0'. He reminded him a bit of Sollux minus the mood swings. His name was Lynxis Feleix. Oddly enough they weren't in any quadrant together. They weren't even Morails, yet they did seem to have a deep connection together. They were both odd in troll standards but he found he could even trust them a little. They were also worried about their friends.

Then came the news of another habitable planet. The inhabitants seemed pretty harmless. No armored shell to protect their bodies, no sharp teeth. Not even measly horns. It seemed a done deal. Easier than stealing candy from a wriggler. The ships where directed immediately towards their future new home. Because it would involve the relocation of the Imperial lusus, the Empress decided to go there herself to make sure her lusus would be comfortable and to case out for what adaptations would need to be made.

Some of the theories passed around the ship regarding what use they would have for the humans. Some said that she could use those humans to replace the dead lusi. He found that laughable. How could fangless, clawless, hornless beings be in charge of, not only raising wrigglers to adulthood, but also protecting them and providing for them. They wouldn't even be able to defend themselves from their own charges, let alone keeping them from harm.

Other theories claimed they could be used as pets. That was just as unlikely. Once he'd learned their blood color he knew there was no way the Empress would condone cuddling that alien race as a companion of any sort. Candy red. The mutated blood color of the most infamous troll in history. The troll that made it so that any other mutant troll with that blood color would be immediately killed. No, the chances of the Empress accepting beings with the same blood color as the Sufferer and without any other redeeming features were pretty much nonexistent.

So far the most likely scenarios were enslavement of the humans or complete annihilation. His new friends didn't seem to like talking about the theories much but agreed that was the most likely scenario.

Being the fastest ship in the fleet, the Empress and her guards were pretty close to the new home to trollkind and the ships with the underage trolls picked up speed to catch up to her soon.

Something was wrong. He could sense it in his veins as he watched the blue planet floating in space. They hadn't had contact with the Empress's fleet in several perigees but the ships maintained their routes. He was pretty sure the ship with the Imperial lusus and a few containing highbloods had landed already. But if the takeover had been successful surely the Empress would have sent a message. If there was struggle she would have sent a message too. If it had failed she would have sent a message. But being radio silent… It made him nervous. Rajani and Lynxis were uneasy too.

Karkat saw several ships landing before his on a large oddly shaped land mass. Only one went down at a time to give enough time for it to unload the several hundreds of passengers and to move the ship out of the way so that another could land. The ships with the middle blood casts were now halfway done landing. He didn't know how he had managed to enter a mid level blood cast ship. All he knew was that a troll had looked at him and immediately wrote him into the mid section.

Karkat had been sure he would be culled when he was directed there with his neighbors, guided by escorts. No mandatory blood sample was taken, not even asked for. Just… a long stare… and an approval stamp. So here he was with all the Olives, Jades and Teals that could fit into the ship.

He was pretty sure Equius would have insisted his Moirail be brought with him in whatever ship he was in so that accounted for the lack of Nepeta's presence. And there were two other ships with mid bloods so that's probably where Kanaya and Terezi were. The two other ships would be landing before his and there were five ships after his with the lowbloods.

As he watched the slow descend of the vessel before his he saw a light flashing on the ocean near the coast.

"HEY, YOU SAW THAT? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?" He said to Rajani and Lynxis.

"You mean that bright flash of light? i don't know but i don't like it… lynx, my man! can you take a look?"

He said nothing and lifted his shades. His eyes were the usual yellow in the cornea, but the iris and pupil were glowing white. He stared for a bit and then lowered the shades.

"Tθθ far tθ see. I wθuld need tθ get clθser." He said.

"Dammit!"

Their ship finally started their descent but he couldn't help but feeling distressed. Something was wrong for sure but he didn't want to show weakness by admitting it out loud. Rajani had no qualms about it though.

"Come with me."

She took the both of them to the entry to the communication center. The ship was big enough that it actually took them a lot of time before finding it. A troll guard barred their entrance. Of course he would! What was that fuckass expecting!?

"Hey! we just thought that since our journey is almost over we could check out this cool station before leaving, ya know?" She said and the guard actually paused to think on it. What the fuck!? "Come on, man. we wouldn't do anything bad, we just want to check it out. besides, what was the worse i could do? break the communication device? clearly no one in the other ships is using it. they are probably too busy celebrating to care about contact anyway."

This time he noticed the guard's eyes getting slightly glazed before he proceeded to let them into the currently empty room as if it was his actual decision.

"YOU… YOU CAN CONTROL MINDS!?"

"Nah! just emotions. lynx try to figure out how this shit works and see what ship is next in line to us." Lynxis didn't wait for the command to latch onto the controls.

"WHAT!?"

"Thanks, lynx! you're a dear."

"HEY! CONFUSED TROLL OVER HERE! WILL YOU FUCKING EXPLAIN HOW IN A-"

"Oh hush, you! chill your beans. jeez, you have the patience of a tiny hyperactive barkbeast. yes, i control other trolls emotions. you want to know how that can be used to control them into doing my bidding, right?

"WELL, YEAH! YOU COULD START BY EXPLAINING TO ME HOW THAT SHIT WORKS!"

"Simple, my dear shouty pall. simply put: i talk like usual by requesting a certain action; i influence how they feel towards my request; i watch their response to my request together with my emotional input; i make adjustments on my input to maximize the effect; and then they comply in a rate of 85% success. my gift is also handy in other situations which i'm not about to discuss with you when we need to focus on far more important things. got it?"

"I hacked a cθnectiθn tθ all five ships. It's directly linked tθ their speakers sθ the whθle crew and inhabitants will listen to us." Lynxis said before Karkat could reply indignantly at Rajani's crude retort.

"Good!" She said sparing a look at Lynxis before looking at him again. "You have the loudest voice from us three, you stay by the communicator." They felt the jolt from the landing. "Damn we took too much time finding this place."

Lynxis moved towards the reinforced glass windowpane and peered out.

"This place is nθt the best tθ watch frθm. I see the θther ships but I dθn't see any trθll mθvement. Everything is quiet. Eerily quiet." He stood straighter "Wait, I see mθvement. But… this isn't gθθd."

"What?"

"They lθθk like rθbθt drθnes. There are a lθt θf them cθming frθm the θther ship. They are cθming in."

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT THE WHOLE REASON WHY WE HAVENT GOTTEN ANY WORD AT ALL IS BECAUSE THE EMPRESS IS ENFORCING SOME KIND OF FUCKED UP BREEDING PLAN AND EVERYONE IS 'BUSY'!? REALLY!? AND NO ONE COULD BE FUCKING BOTHERED TO PASS THE MESSAGE? I MEAN IF THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE UNDERAGE TROLLS PART OF THE BREEDING PROGRAM WE OUGHT TO KNOW BEFORE HAND SO WE COULD FIND PARTNERS IN TIME! AND WHY ROBOT DRONES? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BIOLOGICAL ONES? THEY WEREN'T ALL IN THE SHIP WITH THE MOTHER GRUB."

He couldn't stop from rambling. Sure, all those concerns were something he was concerned about but the biggest one was that they were going to find out his blood color. He didn't have neither a matesprit nor a kismesis. And everyone knew what happened when the drones came to collect the mating fluids and the troll didn't have anything to show for. Even if he had somehow managed to find a matesprit or kismesis he would still be dead since blood color manifested in all body fluids. The moment they saw his color he was dead. He was so dead now. Fuck he had to figure out a way out of this.

And suddenly his riled-up emotions cooled down in a way similar to when he put a healing balm on a wound.

"Chill, dude!" Rajani said, clearly being the cause to his sudden calm. "This is far worse than premature breeding! those aren't really robot drones. they just look like them. i sense emotions from them so they can't be robots… but… they aren't trolls either. i can't influence their emotions in the usual manner. i don't like this. contact the other ships. and, for fucks sake, try to remain calm, please. it's no use going into a panic when we need all our wits to survive this."

He saw Rajani reach into her capchalogue modus and pull out a long flame colored whip with black thorns all over it. She stood by the only way into the room from within the ship. Lynxis stood near him pulling out a case from his capchalogue filled to the brim with several kinds of darts.

"The glass is tθθ thick tθ break unless I use my explθsive darts which, fθr θbviθus reasθns, isn't advisable." Lynxis explained to them both. "The best chance is tθ keep them frθm cθming in. I gθt yθur back, Jani."

With the two older trolls focused on guarding the entrance, Karkat proceeded to lift the communication device from its resting place and informed the other ships of what was happening. One of the ships communicated back, saying that they were already caught in the planet's gravity as they had already started the descent so they would join the fight. One other ship decided to help too and initiated their descent hoping to overwhelm the enemy with that many trolls. The other three ships decided to set course to the nearest troll colony just in case everything went badly.

He heard a lot of commotion outside the door and quickly drew out his sickles from his capchalogue modus.

They weren't expecting the door to blow open. Rajani was thrown back by the impact and landed on a heap behind another desk. Lynxis immediately began throwing his darts. His choice of weapon was the darts that discharged electricity, which was just perfect for people covered in metal armor. One of the enemies tossed a sort of device that started spewing smoke but that didn't faze Lynxis in the least.

"The one tossing the darts has some sort of super vision!" He heard one of the foes say.

"Good, let's see how he deals with this!"

He heard something clank in the floor and could only make out Lynxis' shape as he hastily tried to cover his eyes once more with the shades. That was all he could make out in the smoke before a bright flash of light interrupted his thoughts. He closed his eyes before he went blind and then felt someone grabbing him and dashing further away from the attackers. He heard muffled footsteps following in their wake. He tried to struggle.

"Stop fighting, mcshouty!" Rajani rasped out quietly.

He heard an explosion where the window used to be and the smoke began to clear. Rajani jumped out of the window, followed by Lynxis, whose stoic expression was now twisted into one of pain. He looked up at Rajani and couldn't help but gasp at what he saw.

For one, her shades were broken and he could see a glimpse of her eyes and their color but even if her shades hadn't been broken he would still have figured out her color considering the gash she had on her forehead that trailed blood down the left side of her face. It wasn't candy red like he had wondered. It also wasn't neither olive, jade or teal like was norm on that ship. Nor was it any of the other casts existing. Instead it was a cast that was supposed to be long extinct. It was Lime.

He felt a little jostled as she landed and jumped again on different parts of the ship, trying to get to the ground with minimal damage. They finally touched the dusty ground of the clearing where the ships had landed and fled towards the tree line hearing commands being shouted after them.

"Hey, lynxis! how are your eyes?" Rajani asked when they heard how much the troll was stumbling behind them.

"N-nθt gθθd. They'll be fine, prθvided I rest them fθr a cθuple θf hθurs. But I can still listen tθ yθur fθθtsteps tθ fθllθw yθu. I'm just nθt useful fθr θur safety currently."

"Nah, you are always useful, injured or not."

"PERHAPS YOU COULD LET ME WALK BY MYSELF NOW INSTEAD OF CARRYING ME AROUND LIKE I'M A FUCKING GRUB. THEN YOU COULD HELP HIM TO NOT RUN INTO EVERY TREE IN THE VICINITY. NOW THAT WOULD BE USEFUL!" He decided to intercede, feeling pathetic by being carried around that way. He was still very much on edge and on the verge of panicking but he acknowledged that Rajani was right and that panicking wouldn't help them at all.

"Hmm, you do have a point…" She slowed her pace enough to put him down without making him fall and then reached for Lynxis's hand. "Just try to keep up."

"WHY SHOULD I KEEP UP? IT'S NOT LIKE WE HAVE AN ARMY AFTER US. OH WAIT, WE DO!"

"Urg, i should have never taught you sarcasm."

They kept running. They were exhausted after a good hour or two of that exercise but they knew a small group of the army that had seized their ship was going after them so they couldn't slow down. Damn they were persistent. And then Lynxis spoke up.

"Watch θut! In hear a river up frθnt!"

They barely had time to stop before they were faced with a big and very deep chasm. Down below they spotted the river Lynxis had heard. The problem now was how to escape their current predicament. Before they could do much more than react to the abyss below a group of nine men appeared behind them. They no longer wore the drone resembling armor from before and were clearly human. Lynxis detached himself from Rajani and took a step towards them while hissing. One of the men shot at him and he fell back into the emptiness before either of them could catch him.

"Damn, his ability would have been useful!" One of the humans complained. Just as he was about to turn and complain at them he felt Rajani's body jerk. She had stepped in front of him had took another shot. He grabbed her before she fell to the floor. She was still awake but there was a certain drowsiness in her eyes. She straightened with his help and then ran at the men while shouting.

"Run now, karkat!"

He tried but before he could go far he felt a sting on his back. He had been hit but he quickly realized that there wasn't much bleeding. In fact that shot didn't seem to be destined to kill him. It seems that its intend was to make him sleep.

His mind was slowly becoming foggy and his eyesight blurry. After a few meters of running he stumbled and fell flat on the ground and couldn't will his body to move again. Dammit. He needed to get out of there. He grunted as he felt one of those assholes poking him.

"Hey, boss. This guy also had a weird blood color." He said.

"I wonder if the one that fell also diverged from the norm. Take it to the labs too."

"Sure thing, boss."

And then everything faded to oblivion.


	3. Chapter 1 – New Pet

Introducing Eliza!

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 **Chapter 1** – New Pet

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You get off the cab and wearily take your suitcase from the back. Most people would have loved going a semester abroad with the Erasmus program. You weren't one of them. Other Erasmus students got to choose the country they wanted to go to whereas you were limited to your father's choice and you father's choices… didn't match you at all.

He didn't really want a daughter. What he really wanted was either a carbon copy of himself, female version, to inherit his lab, or as a bargaining chip. It was no surprise to you whenever you were introduced to the sons of CEOs from other companies your father wanted to merge with. By then you had long known he looked at you too calculatingly to be the father you wanted. You weren't surprised that, not long after arriving, a young man -who just so happened to be the son of yet another CEO, go figure- was the first one to go introduce himself to you.

It annoyed you to no end when your mother called and midway through asked you if you had met some nice young man a little too obviously for your tastes. Still you behaved minimally polite. You just needed to endure your parents' misconceptions about you for two more years and then you were free from them. You already had a job in mind and after some poking and prodding the right people you found out that someone with your resume would be accepted easily there. And even better was the fact that your father couldn't intimidate them with his fortune to make them reject your application. You still didn't want him to find out, though. It was two years from now and if he figured it out he could start planning for it.

You texted your best friend about your arrival. Roxy was two years younger than you but that didn't matter. She had a fine head over her shoulders and if she would just quit her underage drinking she could prove the world how good she could be. Not that she wasn't already awesome at the computer, because she was, but she would be so much better, and live longer too, if she quit it.

She texted you back saying she would be waiting online for your arrival on pesterchum and you stashed your phone back into your capchalogue modus. You both knew it would take a while for you to finally be there. Your father always had these big rants over how unladylike you were and how he knew you were just going through a phase and bluh bluh bluh!

You weren't ladylike! At least not the kind of glittery princess or insufferable snob ladylike your father wanted you to be. Instead of silk you liked leather. Instead of pastels you liked black. You didn't really care about fashion but if you had to guess your style of clothing ranged from goth to punk but you didn't consider yourself as either of those. You knew belonging to any of those social groups didn't mean just wearing the clothes and though you had never bothered to find out more about them you were pretty sure you wouldn't fit in anyway.

After hesitating for a bit in front of the door you finally took a deep breath and shoved your key into the keyhole. You were so tired. You wanted nothing more than to climb the pathetically magnificent staircase to the second floor and travel the stupidly ostentatious hallway to your room, to fall flat on the only regular looking bed in the whole mansion.

And then you saw them.

You weren't surprised to see your father, in fact you had been expecting him, you knew he would want the typical chat before you cured your jet lag. You also weren't surprised to not see your mother anywhere. She was probably drowning herself in Xanax again. You guessed that drugging oneself was one of the ways anyone could survive in that cold house but you refused to numb the pain that way. What did surprise you, though, was the other girl in the room.

She looked to be around twenty, like yourself, or a bit older. She had glossy black hair and eyes so vivid green she must have been wearing contacts. But it wasn't just her unusual presence there that gave you pause. It was the fact that she seemed to be cosplaying as some character. Her skin was tainted grey and she had yellow and orange horns. The two spiky front teeth were extremely realistic too and the fact that her sclera was yellow too either further cemented your colored contacts theory or meant she had made an eye tattoo. Both were cringe worthy to you either way. Why would someone willingly mess around with their eyes? She was dressed in a plain white loose gown that ended just below her knees.

Seeing a stranger in your house equipped with a full cosplay was weird enough but then you noticed that her neck was surrounded by some kind of cybernetic collar, a leash coming down from it to hang loosely around your father's wrist.

What… was this…? Did you just walk in on your father doing some kinky shit with a girl your age? How where you supposed to react to that!? Had mom somehow drugged you with an overdose of her Xanax while you weren't looking and you were now hallucinating? You hoped so!

"Good evening, Eliza. I see that you have returned from your time abroad the same as when you left." He said and then sighed. "I was hoping that interacting with other youths of your social status would snap you out of your prolonged teen rebellion phase at last."

You stopped yourself from grunting at him. Doing so generally never boded well for you. Instead you faked an apologetic look. Living so long with your father had given you one heck of a poker face. Were it a normal day, you would have enjoyed a confrontation but today you had been too worn out from the travel. And you still had no clue to what was happening!

Your look seemed to please him immensely. The girl next to him, however, had a knowing look on her face.

"Well. I'm sure you'll be fine eventually. You are a Morgenstern after all." He then forced the girl towards you, who seemed to have a very concentrated expression on her face. On what you weren't sure. "Meet our new addition to the family. This is Rajani, a new pet that was entirely lab developed!"

"WHAT!?"

"We've taken several genetic components from other kinds of pets and developed several hybrids to keep people company. Look at her, Eliza!"

You did and you still couldn't phantom what the heck he was going on about. If he were anyone else, you would have thought he was playing some sort of joke. Was this some sort of shock treatment? There was no way that wasn't a human girl in disguise!

"I see you're surprised. Perhaps disbelieving, even. You see, we used primate genes to make them bipedal with opposable thumbs and capable of learning new orders quickly so that they'll be great help to disabled humans among other reasons!" The fact he said 'humans' and not 'people' didn't escape your notice. It was as if he was purposefully dehumanizing the girl.

Then it clicked and all you could think was ' _Oh god! Jade was telling the truth!_ '

"They will look almost capable of rational thought. They let me have the first successful one. Rajani, go to her. Go on!"

Rajani definitely looked annoyed as he ordered her like a dumb animal. That annoyed look certainly wasn't one belonging to a being unable of rational thought. Still she slowly walked towards you. She stopped in front of you and looked up at you lifting a hand in a way much similar to a dog waiting for its owner to shake his paw.

"She's waiting for you to shake her hand, Eliza." He told you and so you took her hand. The grey skin seemed tougher and thicker than a human's but it was still very much soft to the touch.

"I'm giving her to you. Maybe caring for her will be good for you."

"What!?" You were beyond surprised. Your father would never have done something like that. And you were pretty sure she wasn't a pet. Not if Jade was right!

"Don't even think of giving her away, young lady! She's your responsibility now." He said misinterpreting your exclamation for outrage.

"Ok…" You said feeling very much confused. "What's with that funky looking ciber collar on her neck?"

"Oh. Yeah. Don't remove it. Not only does it conveniently track her movements in case she gets lost, but it also keeps her alive. Being a hybrid of so many animals is rather taxing and she needs certain stimuli to keep her heart pumping." If you hadn't known better that would have been believable.

"Does she talk?"

"No. she may release a few grunts from time to time but she is unable of speech."

"Ok… well I need to rest for a bit. I'm jetlagged as fuck!" You said, wanting to get away as fast a possible.

"Language!" He said warningly. "Take Rajani with you. She'll have to sleep on the floor, though. We can't have our pets on the furniture after all."

You nodded absently and climbed the stairs as your father let out a stern 'good night'. Rajani silently followed you, bare feet on the carpeted hall.

You entered your room, waited for her to come in and then closed and locked your door. You knew your father could come check on you any moment to make sure you were doing as he told. Once you were sure no one was nearby you turned towards the girl who looked around the room.

"You gotta be fuckin kidding me!" You said more to yourself than to her as you rubbed your forehead. Surely you would have a migraine from all that. Rajani just stared at you, probably confused as to what your outburst was directed at.

Wait, did she even understood what you said? According to Jade they could but… Perhaps this one didn't? Man, this was awkward!

"Can you understand me?" You finally asked and she looked at you quizzingly but didn't respond in any way. The lack of response didn't daunt you so you asked again. "Can you nod if you understand my words?"

She hesitated, clearly afraid to trust you, but eventually gave a slow, almost imperceptible nod and you beamed at her courage and honesty.

"Ok let me guess. You ain't really a pet but an alien race that had your planet destroyed by meteors and was captured by the army of some human government, right?"

Her eyes widened at your question as if caught by surprise and then she narrowed them as if distrusting you again. You sighed.

"I'm taking a guess that I'm actually right." You sit on the edge of your bed and pat the mattress at your side. She hesitantly comes closer but with a wary glance at the door she plops down on the floor near the mattress instead. You frowned but then sighed yet again. "Ok, that's understandable, I guess. Four months ago an online pal of mine told me some strange tales about an alien -a Troll, she called her- having drifted to the shore of her island. She lives there all alone with her brother, left behind by some millionaire douchebag whose idea of parenthood is handing kids guns, and though she is pretty smart for a 16 year old, I thought the girly had gone coocoo in the head. Guess I owe her an apology." You explained.

She seemed to want to say something but the second the slightest sound came out of her she suddenly winced, clasping her throat. Now you know why your father said they weren't supposed to talk. You tried to reach for the collar to take it off but Rajani stopped you with haste, waving her hands in front of it to indicate you shouldn't touch it.

"Do you really need that to be alive or was that an excuse?" You ask. Perhaps she really did need that collar to inhale the Earth's atmosphere. She did come from another planet after all.

She frowned and waved her hand as if to say the answer was both yes and no. After five minutes of trying to understand what she meant by that you gave up the hand charades. It was time to try a different approach.

"Ok, so we know you can understand what I say, right?" A nod. "That means that our language is the same." You pondered shortly. "Can you write?" She huffed indignantly as if that was an offensive question. "Perfect."

You rummaged your drawer for a piece of paper and a pencil and handed then to her. She promptly began to write… only for you to realize that, despite you two technically speaking the same language, you didn't exactly wrote it the same way.

"Great… How will I know what each character means…?" You pondered a bit. You had no way of knowing if each character was a letter like the regular alphabet, a syllable like the Japanese Katakana and Hiragana or a concept like the Chinese alphabet. Well, there was one way to put some doubts to rest. "Is your name really Rajani?" Frustrated nod. "Can you write Rajani there?"

She looked at you oddly but wrote it. You took notice to see which way she was writing her name. You saw six characters when she was done, two of them were clearly the same which meant that they were the 'A' character. Given their position you easily translated the other characters to your alphabet and wrote the right letter under each character. She wrote from right to left.

You could almost see her eyes sparkle with purpose as she took another sheet of paper and wrote her alphabet in a list sort of way. Then she wrote the Roman letters of her name with their respective trollian counterpart. Since you were the only one who could talk you decided to say your whole name and write it at the same time. She had a bit of trouble with the 'Z' in your name but managed it anyway. You tried a few more simple words until the alphabet was complete. You tried to get her to high five you but the concept was foreign to her.

Slowly you managed to use the translation sheet to translate her answer to your collar question. It seemed that, though she didn't need the collar to be alive, they had put a dispositive in it that, if she or anyone else tried to take it off, a poison would be injected into her so she would actually die. It was a clever way to 'prove' that the trolls needed the collar. She added that the collar would discharge a painful jolt of electricity whenever it sensed her vocal chords vibrating to cause sound. You still read the text out loud to make sure you had gotten it right, which you had. You winced at what all that meant.

You turned your laptop on. You owed Jade a big apology, aside from the fact that you needed to communicate with the other troll.

"Can you write your version of what happened? I want you to be honest about it. I need to know as much as I can." You asked Rajani as you waited for your computer to fully load so you could access your pesterchum account.

Rajani promptly took out a piece of paper and started writing as you typed your password. As soon as your account loaded you immediately opened a chatlog with Jade.

.

\- rampantBitch [RB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 22:13 –-

RB: Hei, Jady girl! I…  
RB: I need to talk ta ya.  
RB: It's urgent!  
RB: Contact me when you on, k?

\- rampantBitch [RB] stopped pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 22:14 –-

.

Not long after you sent those messages you heard a ping as another chatlog opened up. Shit, you had completely forgotten about Roxy!

.

\- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering rampantBitch [RB] at 22:14 –-

TG: Hei, lizsie!  
TG:*lizzie  
TG: wat took you so logn?  
TG: *what *long

RB: Hei.  
RB: Long story.  
RB: In short Jade was right and I have to apologize…  
RB: and listen to a classical music concerto -_-'

TG: Say wat!?  
TG: Also this typo was on purpose this time.  
TG: And Jade is always right. Which time are you refrerfing?  
TG: *referring

RB: 4 months ago, aliens, ya kno, completely insane stuff?

TG: Oh, yeah, I remember that.

RB: I… may have wrote to her at some point that the chances of her story being even remotely real were the same as me going to a classical music concerto…  
RB: Look, I was starting to get pretty riled up by that time since Jade kept insisting it was true and I was having an awful day. I apologized the next day for acting bitchier than usual but that doesn't change that I did mean it as I typed it so…

TG: lol. You!? In a concerto!? Of classical music!?  
TG: lmao I wish I could be there to see!

RB: No you don't.

TG: Yea, you probly right. Has Jade said anything yet?

RB: Naw.  
RB: Hei… Rox… could you hack into my dad's lab network?

TG: Huh? Why?

RB: Cause I only know the story she told is true cause my pops decided to gift me with a 'new pet' his lab 'developed'.  
RB: I wanna know how bad it is.

TG: Ouch!  
TG: K, gonna check on that.  
TG: brb

\- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] stopped pestering rampantBitch [RB] at 22:19 –-

.

You spent the next few minutes just watching Rajani finish writing her account of what had happened and slowly and painstakingly translating it into your writing system. Once that was done you could finally read her version of the story.

She told you about how her society worked and about blood casts and how she was the last of her cast, lime colored blood, as far as she knew. Trolls society was cruel but she acknowledged that was only so due to the Empress. She told you that if a kinder ruler were to rise all that violence trolls were prone to could be contained and redirected to far more noble uses for it. You didn't know enough about her society to know if that was the truth or not but from her short description of it you doubted it was that simple.

She then told you how they were suddenly being evacuated from their planet as stray asteroids started attacking it. After an amount of time she said was the equivalent to three human years the Empress had found Earth and told them to travel there as she subjugated the human race before they arrived. Then, four months ago, they landed without having any news from the Empress and quickly realized that they were the ones who lost the war.

She told you she'd been subjected to experiments through all those four months until she managed to convince your father to take her home as a pet.

You sort of expected her to have been subjected to experiments. Your father did bring her from the lab, after all. That didn't make it any less shocking to have her confirm it in writing. You still somehow hoped that perhaps your father had nothing to do with all that, that he truly believed her to be irrational, but you knew better.

A 'ping' woke you from your reverie and you saw that Roxy had returned.

.

\- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering rampantBitch [RB] at 22:54 –-

TG: So I like  
TG: checkex on the site you told me about.  
TG: *checked  
TG: and omg.  
TG: I mean I always knew Jade was telling the trutj but… hopy danm! That is insane!  
TG: *truth *holy *damn  
TG: lol hopy damn

RB: Roxy… how drunk are you now?

TG: Pff, am not. I typed too fast to correct my typos. Been sober for a month now.

RB: Yeah right!  
RB: Anyway, you think reading a site is, as you put it, a 'hopy danm!' moment then I can't imagine what you would say if you had instead come face to face with it.

TG: Yeah that would be a messed up way to face the truth.  
TG: Not as meesed up as what im reading tho.  
TG:*messed

RB: How bad is it?

TG: PT bad.  
TG: Like 'deep web stories' and 'experiment creepypastas' sort of bad.  
TG: Yur dad is more messed up than I thought.

.

You were unsure of what to reply to that. You really didn't want to think of your father that way. Another 'ping' snapped you out of those depressing thoughts and you saw that Jade was finally online.

.

RB: Jade's here. Gonna talk to her now. Brb.

ROXY: good luck, you classy lady. Wink wonk

\- rampantBitch [RB] stopped pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] at 23:01 –-

.

You opened the flashing icon on your screen.

.

\- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering rampantBitch [RB] at 23:00 –-

JADE: Hi, Eliza!  
JADE: What do you want to talk to me about?  
JADE: It sounds urgent. :(

RB: Hey Jade.  
RB: Hmm…  
RB: Remember what you told me 4 months ago?

JADE: Yes?

RB: You were right. I'm sorry for doubting you.

JADE: Oh! It's ok. You don't need to apologize.  
JADE: But…  
JADE: What made you change your mind so suddenly?

RB: Huuuuuuuummmmmm… Kinda got confronted with the truth face to face?

JADE: Really?

RB: Yup. And the first thing I said was 'you gotta be fuckin kiddin me, man!'. And she just stood there! Looking at me like I was insane! I don't blame her, though. Talk about awkward.

JADE: I can imagine.  
JADE: But…  
JADE: You don't just want to apologize to me, right?  
JADE: You sounded so urgent when you texted me…

RB: Well… I just want to ask for details of what happened to the one you met.  
RB: I just want to…  
RB: Compare stories.  
RB: I'm not sure the one I met is being truthful in her entirety.

JADE: I understand. Of course I'll tell you the details.  
JADE: Or at least what she told me.

RB: Thanks.

JADE: In fact. I'll just let her talk to you herself! She has her own pesterchum now.

\- gardenGnostic [GG] stopped pestering rampantBitch [RB] at 23:09 –-

.

Of all the things you weren't expecting that. Well, your new friend had learned to translate your alphabet rather fast. And that girl had Jade on her side for far longer. But somehow you hadn't expected her to learn to use a chat of all things. It seemed like such a useless thing to learn to do, if her story was true, which seemed likelier by the minute.

You weren't really doubting Rajani's version of the facts but you did want to prod the other troll to see why she hadn't taken a far more active role so far. Did she not know what was happening? But then why had she run away if she didn't. You think that Jade wouldn't have liked to hear you doubting her new friend so you excused your actions by telling her that you distrusted Rajani instead.

Soon you had a friend request so you accepted it and opened a new chat page. Before you even got a chance to introduce yourself the stranger was already typing away.

.

\- cuttlefishCuller [CC] began pestering rampantBitch [RB] at 23:10 –-

CC: )(I! Jade told me you believed )(er now! You can't believe )(ow )(APPY that makes me!  
CC: And )(ow relieved too.  
CC: I don't really )(ave anyone else to )(elp me but for Jade's and Jake's friends. 38(  
CC: Not t)(at I'm complaining! I do appreciate all t)(e )(elp I can get. But…  
CC: I can't do muc)( to )(elp my people wit)( just t)(ese friends…

RB: Wow! Huuuh. Hi to you too.  
RB: The name's Eliza Morgenstern. Lizzie for friends. Nice to meet you.  
RB: …sorry for not believing you existed.

CC: O)( GLUB! SILLY M-E!  
CC: )(i. My name is Feferi Peixes. Just Feferi is fine. Nice to meet you too.  
CC: Sorry for the tirade. It's just I'm so N-ERVOUS!

RB: It's ok. I understand.  
RB: Would you mind telling me your story?

.

She didn't mind telling you her story.

She began by telling you how she departed her planet. She was in the same ship with what she called the Imperial lusus. You asked what a lusus was, since Rajani had failed to mention them, and she told you that lusi were beings that took care of grubs, which were baby trolls. By the end of her lusi explanation you sort of gathered they were an odd mix of parent figure and pet. But it seemed her lusus was special.

First off she was the oldest being known in Alternia, her home planet. Then there was the one difference she had from other lusi. Unlike them, who took care of a grub one at a time until they reached adulthood, Gl'bgolyb was in charge of all the heiresses and empress trolls. If there were more than one she would still take care of them until they were old enough to feed her.

But what really made her the Imperial lusus was one particular trait she had. Her voice could kill all troll kind. Feferi had to almost constantly keep feeding her so she wouldn't raise her voice by feeling upset. She told you it had been a heavy burden to her.

She said that living on a ship full of trolls with her lusus had been a problem because of her feeding. She said someone else was in charge of the feeding, by her verbal expression she meant a friend. She cut her explanation of Gl'bgolyb's feeding short.

As Feferi recounted her tale you couldn't help but feel immersed in the plot.

She glossed over the time she spent on the ship and didn't mention her friend again. You sensed that, for all her fondness for her 'pale mate' as she had put it, there was also an underlying frustration and sadness that meant that not everything went swimmingly.

Then she told you about her sisters. One of them kept telling jokes and expecting all those around her to laugh. Apparently, she wanted to overthrow the Empress once she reached 9 sweeps just so she could get all troll kind to be forced to laugh at her jokes even if they weren't funny. Feferi indulged her by laughing at them.

According to Feferi it was costume that once a Fuchsia troll reached the age of 9 sweeps, which was the age a troll was considered an adult, she would have to fight the current Empress for the title to the death. Personally she disliked the practice but would still have confronted her ruler to get the crown. Feferi wanted to change the troll society for the better. She felt there was far too much hate and hurt the way things were.

She then told you about her other two sisters. She said they were older. In fact she swore that, though they claimed to be just under nine sweeps, that they were already fully fledged adults. They told her they weren't even slightly interested in the crown and just wanted to live their lives peacefully which she guessed was the reason why they lied about their age, considering that they would be forced into the fight even if they didn't want to.

Already being over nine sweeps and not wanting any claim to the throne already made them rare in their cast, but her peculiarities didn't end there. They were also hatched at the same time and considered themselves as twins. They were the ones that had thought Feferi the concept of 'sister' and 'twin' since troll kind had no use for the words to describe their situation. One of them just wanted to be free of responsibility and the other aspired to one day be able to fly.

Feferi was sure they would have felt appalled at Gl'bgolyb's feeding but since they had long ago foregone her feeding to the youngest, as was custom, they were unaware of it. You hadn't understood her comment about the feeding and were pretty sure she wasn't telling you something.

With that Feferi skipped her tale forward, to the day her ship had landed. You noticed she purposefully forego of telling you how come they had been directed at your planet. You would ask her later.

She told you how they had landed without incident. The crew hid the ship so the humans wouldn't find it and took care of transporting her lusus while she oversaw. She briefly mentioned that her friend was also present. The other passengers were supposed to relocate to the landing site of the other ships to install a communication center and to receive the new arrivals.

She knew nothing of what had happened to the other passengers after they had split but assumed that, considering what would have come to befall her, they were either dead or captured.

She didn't say much to what had happened to her then. She said she was overseeing from afar as Gl'bgolyb was lowered to the water by smaller vehicles led by her ship's crew. She had to go to the landing location as well and so she was told to stay on land. That was when something fell down from the sky. The explosion was so fast that Gl'bgolyb never saw it coming. Feferi took comfort in that she hadn't suffered. The light had been so bright she had to close her eyes to keep them from going blind. All the crew was gone with her lusus. And then the humans appeared behind her and her friend. They had known the both of them were there all along.

She went oddly silent for a few seconds and then told you simply that her friend had helped her escape and she swam as fast as she could. She had swum and swum until she could swim no more. And then she found an island. There were no caves below water so she got to land hoping to find a place to hide. She had collapsed from exhaustion just before she reached the tree line and was later found by Jake while still unconscious and he and his cousin Jade had helped her and kept her safe.

.

CC: I )(ope t)(is information is useful. Jade didn't really tell me w)(y you wanted to know, t)(oug)(.

RB: We'll get there. Don't worry. I just have some hard questions for you to answer now if you don't mind.

CC: OF COURS-E!

RB: …  
RB: Ok I actually wanted to ask about far more important stuff but after this long I gotta ask…  
RB: What's with all the ')(' and '-E'?

CC: O)( t)(at's my typing quirk and is c)(aracteristic to my royal class. Us royals also use nautically t)(emed words in our speec)( usually but Jade didn't like that muc)(. 38/  
CC: S)(e said it made )(er )(ead )(urt. We reac)(ed a compromise of sorts.

RB: OK…  
RB: So, now the important shit!  
RB: You glossed over it when you told me how you trolls set course to this planet. I gotta know…  
RB: What was it that you really were planning? And please be honest.

She went silent for a while again. You decided to reassure her.

RB: I promise I won't judge.

CC: I )(ad no say in it, I swear.  
CC: T)(e Empress wanted to conquer the Eart)(.  
CC: I do not know w)(at s)(e was planning to do wit)( your kind. Only )(er fleet was privy to )(er intentions if at all.

.

So she was telling the truth about this thing in particular. Now for some character assessment.

.

RB: Ok. Next question.  
RB: Once again I won't judge your answer.  
RB: If back then you had any choice on the matter what would you have done?

CC: )(onestly I )(ave no idea. I probably wouldn't )(ave felt compelled to conquer a w)(ole new planet for t)(e sake of putting all t)(e underage trolls. It really isn't necessary to do t)(is.

RB: Why?

CC: The w)(ole reason w)(y s)(e separated the yout)(s from t)(e adults was just so t)(e adults couldn't teac)( the kids to form a rebellion against )(er. T)(at is also w)(y s)(e spread )(er people t)(roug)( various planets in great distance from one anot)(er. T)(ere )(ave been rebellions before. Two of t)(em in fact.

RB: Really?

CC: Y-ES! T)(is was because of )(ow the Empress ruled our race. T)(e w)(ole discrimination by blood cast and mistreatment of lower blood classes. T)(e first one started the movement and t)(e deat)( of its leader fueled t)(e second one.

.

Who knew that single question would be so telling. While your new companion hadn't given you a lesson in troll history you were sure this information could be used to determine if there were any incompatibilities in their stories. You still were unsure if Feferi was bullshitting you in her goody two shoes deal or if it was the truth.

.

RB: Ok, thanks for enlightening me.  
RB: Another question. You spoke of blood casts. Can you tell me about that? How many are there right now? And what's their relevance?

CC: Well… T)(at goes a lot into troll biology and politics, as well as social norms.  
CC: T)(ere is a wide variety of colors on our )(emospectrum. Mine is Fucs)(ia w)(ic)( is reserved solely for the )(eiresses.

RB: 'Heiresses'? As in all of them are female?

CC: Yes. It is also t)(e rarest kind of blood around, for obvious reasons.  
CC: T)(en t)(ere are t)(e Violet bloods. T)(ey are still royalty and still sea dwellers.  
CC: Next is Purple. T)(ey are no longer sea dwellers but do )(ave t)(e tendency to live near t)(e ocean.  
CC: I don't know w)(y, t)(oug)(. T)(ey must be genetically predisposed to it, I guess.  
CC: T)(en t)(ere are the Indigos, followed by t)(e Ceruleans. T)(ey are still noble in blood.  
CC: Next we )(ave t)(e Teals, t)(e Jades and t)(e Olives. T)(ey are sort of middle class.  
CC: T)(en t)(e lowest bloods are t)(e Golds, t)(e Bronzes and t)(e Burgundies.

RB: Are those all the colors?

CC: Well, yes and no.  
CC: T)(ere used to be Lime bloods but t)(e Empress extinguish)(ed the w)(ole cast.  
CC: I )(eard t)(ey used to be very powerful and s)(e feared a rebellion.  
CC: And t)(e leader of t)(e first rebellion I talked about was completely out of t)(e )(emospectrum. Any grub to be )(atched wit)( )(is blood type is supposed to be culled upon birt)( so I doubt t)(ere are anymore of )(is blood type.

.

Ok so your new companion was telling the truth about that too. It was good to know.

.

RB: Ok, with that out the way we reach the most important question of all.  
RB: What do you intend to do now?

CC: I wis)( I knew. I don't even know if t)(ere any ot)(er trolls alive. Wit)(out t)(e Empress t)(e colonies will fall into )(avock and I doubt any of t)(em would )(elp w)(atever stranded trolls are still out )(ere, if t)(ere are any. I don't even know w)(ere are t)(e trolls t)(at landed on Eart)( or if t)(ey are even alive. Believe me, I've done not)(ing but t)(inking about it ever since I woke up in Jake's and Jade's )(ome. T)(ey told me t)(at no one was even aware t)(ere was an invasion attempt. T)(at t)(e government must )(ave kept all in secret.

RB: Ok so maybe that question was stupid. Consider this instead. What will you do if you do manage to gather all the trolls that are still alive on Earth?

CC: Well it would depend on t)(e colonies. If I could communicate wit)( t)(em and t)(ey agreed to )(elp me I would get all t)(e trolls out of Eart)(. But if t)(ey don't I'll )(ave to find a way to protect t)(em all? I don't know. Maybe create a nation for trolls? I mean, I mig)(t as well integrate trolls in )(uman society if we can't get out of )(ere, right?

RB: Ok. That is reasonable I guess. But do you intend to go to war with us humans?

.

This was what you really wanted to know. You weren't even sure if the trolls would listen to the heiress but in case they did you wanted to make sure that the whole world wouldn't suffer just because a human government was stupid.

.

CC: GLUB NO! Imagine t)(at! T)(at would accomplis)( not)(ing. I would muc)( rat)(er get along wit)( ot)(ers peacefully. Going to war would make me no different from the Empress!

RB: Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Now I have some news for you.  
RB: Do you want the good ones or the bad ones first?

CC: T)(e good ones please. I could use some good news after all t)(ese mont)(s.

RB: Well the good news is that the trolls are alive. A lot of them are, actually.

CC: T)(AT'S A V-ERY GOOD N-EWS! 38D  
CC: O)( GLUB! I'M SO R-ELI-EV-ED!  
CC: But… t)(ere are also bad news?

RB: Yes.

CC: W)(at are t)(ey?

RB: They have been enslaved using some sort of collar thingy and sold as pets.

CC: O)( NO! 38O

.

You look away from the screen to stare at the troll who quietly waited for any news. So far both stories seemed to match. In fact, it proved that Rajani was far more trustworthy than Feferi. Feferi either had an incessant need to be a goody two shoes or was trying too hard to make sure there was no hatred between trolls and humans so that there could be peace.

If it was the first then she wouldn't be fit to rule since what they would be needing wouldn't be a goody two shoes but yes a strong leader, and if it was the second then she seriously needed to have a good lesson on leadership as well. If she wanted to be a leader that protected her people and give them equal chances then she needed to stop hiding things from them and trust them more. That was also a rule to be applied to allies. No one would want to help a person who omitted important facts to them.

You knew you needed to talk further with Rajani about what other things she could tell you but for now you needed some rest.


	4. Chapter 1,5 – D--ENIAL

I gotta admit, I had entirely too much fun coming up with the morbid details for this one. I'm not sure if it'll be well received in the end but at least I personally like how it came out.

.

 **Chapter 1.5** – D-ENIAL

.

Living in the ship could get quite boring. She didn't even have her cuttlefish to keep her company there. She did have other trolls but most avoided her out of fear of angering one of the heiresses. Strangely most of the population on board were lowbloods so they feared that she would sic her lusus on them, which she would never do but they didn't know that.

Though she had nothing against lowbloods she couldn't help but think their presence there was odd. As far as she knew that ship was meant for the sea dwellers and Gl'bgolyb. Unfortunately none of her online friends was there aside from Eridan, though he was more than an online friend, really. He still had a lot of hatred towards land dwellers but the ship still had a limited amount of them and his tantrums were more manageable.

Honestly, she was starting to wonder if she should break the news to him or not. Before their home planet was torn apart she was already feeling weary of her duty as his moirail. Sometimes it seemed pretty one sided. She was glad that most of the time she didn't need much support from him, as she was already calm optimistic person, because most of the time she had to help _him_ out. It came to the point she felt she couldn't afford to fill her other quadrants because he took so much of her time.

She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she simply wasn't fitted for the task of being his moirail. He deserved a better moirail, really. Not someone who grew weary of his problems. But since coming to the ship things had calmed down. Perhaps there was hope? He still took most of her time, though, but that was just because most other trolls seemed to avoid her, even the Violets. The lowbloods she could understand the reasoning of, but the Violets?

Well at least there were other heiresses there, she just needed to find them. But considering how their instincts could press her to attack them and vice versa perhaps that wasn't advisable either. But she wasn't one to be easily swayed by instinct. And if they were, then she knew how to protect herself just fine.

She eventually met each and every one of her competitors for the title. With Eridan helping her out with feeding Gl'bgolyb she had some free time to roam the ship. Trizza didn't really give her any chance to get along but Kataji and Amelia were another story all together.

Not only were those two oddly old, perhaps too old even to be considered as part of the young trolls that would inhabit the new planet, clearly above nine sweeps, but they also were strangely calm. Even more so than Feferi herself. And even odder: the two of them were close. As in platonically close. Somehow like moirails but platonically. They called each other sister.

Feferi tried several times to get the truth about their ages out of them but they dodged her subtle attempts easily and she didn't want to scare them off by being more obvious. They eventually told her they weren't even slightly interested in the crown and just wanted to live their lives peacefully which she guessed was the reason why they lied about their age, considering that they would be forced into the fight even if they didn't want to.

They had been born at the same time so sometimes they called each other twin instead of sister. Feferi liked them a lot. Kataji wanted to be free of responsibility and explore the universe around her. She wanted to visit all the colonies and see as much as she could. Amelia wanted to fly someday, but not in a machine. A jet pack was as far as she was willing to go as far as technology assisted flying went. She wanted the least amount of outside help as possible.

For a while Feferi was happy. She had friends to talk to in that ship and Eridan had less and less of his tantrums against lowbloods so their moirailegiance might still survive.

For a while Gl'bgolyb was happy. Eridan took care of cutting up the meals for Gl'bgolyb before he handed the meat to Feferi. She thought it was nice of him to do so. Gl'bgolyb always complained about the bones of the lusus she was fed with but Feferi never could bring herself to cut them up and up until then Eridan never had the time to do it either.

For a while Eridan was happy. His mood was better than ever and he laughed more and complained less. Feferi liked to see and hear him laugh.

For a while her new sisters were happy. They now had a new sister to dote upon and tell stories to.

For a while…

But then it all changed. It wasn't sudden like their relocation had been. It was more like slowly waking up from a nice dream to a harsh reality.

It started when a bronze blood Kataji was particularly friendly with stopped showing up all of a sudden.

Neither of them gave it much importance at first. He wouldn't have been the first that needed some space for himself for a couple of days. But then a few days turned into a week. And a week turned into a month. By the time they had noticed the month was up and still no sign of him. Had he not been someone Kataji was particularly friendly with it would have been fine. They probably wouldn't even have noticed. But when they were so close already it was odd for the friendship to suddenly stop dead in its tracks just like that.

Once was odd enough but perigees later another one of Kataji's many friends went missing. And then another. That's when Feferi started noticing it wasn't just Kataji's friends that were going missing. Several other lowbloods she remembered seeing before had disappeared too. Not just that, the lowbloods that were left were acting frightened and cautious and always moved in groups.

Feferi began noticing which lowbloods went missing. And then she realized why they were missing… So she confronted Eridan about it.

…

He didn't deny it.

In fact, he admitted all of it. The whole reason why the lowbloods had even been brought into the ship on the first place. Lusi were too big to carry a lot of them in the ship and somehow trolls had more calories than lusi despite being smaller. Something about their physical composition being denser than lusi.

Eridan had already been in charge of helping out with the feeding before. He knew Feferi, who already hated having to kill lusi to feed Gl'bgolyb, would refuse to feed her trolls. He did what he had to, or so he said. But she knew he had enjoyed it. To finally kill land dwellers like he had always wanted to. That had been why he was so happy ever since the beginning of the trip. He had cut the bodies so that she wouldn't recognize what exactly she had been using to feed her lusus.

Feferi hadn't known how to deal with all that. She had touched the flesh of trolls, people that had been not too different from her, and hadn't even recognized it. She felt truly disgusted and horrified. Her mind buzzed with chaos as she tried to process it. She couldn't even say that she would forbid such kind of feeding, knowing fully that all that would accomplish was having Gl'bgolyb raise her voice killing all lowbloods on board anyway. Perhaps even the ones on the other ships too, if she got loud enough.

So, she did the one thing she still could. She pretended, even to herself, that she didn't know anything, that that conversation with Eridan had never happened. And every time Kataji or Amelia brought it up again, forcing her to remember all that she knew, she felt her sins crawling on her back, guilt stabbing at her. She couldn't tell them. The only friends she still had. They would despise her if they knew.

And Eridan? She hadn't broken things off with him officially. She could barely even so much as look at him anymore. In title, they were still recognized as moirails but their relationship had grown ice cold since he had admitted to his doings. She knew that, if he hadn't told her, it had been to protect her. But the mere fact that he had enjoyed the killings… no, she couldn't get past that. But she tried to convince herself that it was because he was caring that he did what he did.

The time she spent in the ship up until they landed on the new planet was more of those feelings of guilt as more and more lowbloods went missing, some times whole groups at the same time, and she pretended not to notice.

They landed without incident. The ship's crew hid the ship so that the humans wouldn't find it, even if by mistake. The other passengers were directed to the landing spot of the other ships to install a communication center as the crew took care of transporting her lusus into the water as she oversaw. As her moirail, Eridan was there too.

And then a sudden bright light from where Gl'bgolyb was. Seconds later a loud 'boom' was heard as she was tossed back by the impact from the blast.

Her ears were ringing and her eyes still hurt from the flash. She got up from the floor, stumbling a bit are she tried to regain balance. By her side Eridan did the same.

"Come on, Fef! Wwe havve to leavve!" He said but it had been too late. The humans were there, armed to the teeth. "Go! Swwim awway!"

He pushed at her and started shooting at the humans and they began shooting back. Feferi was still confused from the explosion and could barely comprehend what was going on. The ringing from the bullets didn't help her either. She had been in direct trajectory of one of those projectiles when she had finally managed to snap out of the trance. Eridan jumped in front of her and took the bullet.

"-ERIDAN!"

"Go, Fef! Go noww!" The injury was bad, he was bleeding way too fast. If she didn't stop the blood he would die. "FEF!" She looked up at him. "Go!" He said in his most serious tone.

So, she jumped down the cliff and dived into the water. She swam and swam until she was tired of swimming, but there was no place to hide in. And then an island! But no underwater caves… She tried to walk to the tree line but exhaustion overtook her and she collapsed in the blistering sand.

Last thing she remembered was hearing. "Jade! Jade! I require your assistance."

.

 **END** **NOTES:**

So, when I said some people might not like it it's mostly because of Eridan's character in this and the fact that he dies right away. I'm gonna be honest here. One of the reasons why I offed him in here is both because I never intended for all of the trolls be alive by the time the story starts but I picked him out of all of them because I never really liked him much. However, there are people that do so I gave him a heroic death, protecting his intended Matesprit, though the feelings were never reciprocated. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, all things considered. I'm not sure I would be able to write his character properly even if I kept him alive. :/

this is it for now. I really just want opinions on what I already have and I'm already starting to justify the Mature rating, I think.


End file.
